I went by our old house today -- at the wedding we had heard that the two walnut trees were down.  Liz had driven by and slammed on her breaks -- something wasn't right!  It does look...well, bleak.  I think Doug should go by and have a moment of silence -- those trees meant a lot to him!  Such a love/hate thing.  But, it's a passing -- it truly doesn't look like our house any more.   The lack of trees shows how much space there is to...add a ton more house, which must be the plan.

I find myself involved in a ton of pre-inauguration activities, mainly activities to remind Obama that a bunch of us have our eyes on what he does about torture.  I'm part of a loose group organizing a vigil on the 18th near the Key Bridge in Rosslyn.  I'm sure there are at least 50 organizations involved in anti-torture activities in the next couple of weeks, and the communications seems difficult.  The web certainly helps.  We want to get speakers to come on the 18th, and from a public official's point of view, I can see that the vague sponsorship of some of these things could come back and bite them -- all of a sudden they say yes to something, and a year later the Post says they're involved with a group they didn't even know about.  The woman I'm working with on the vigil is amazing -- 76 years old and a pure action machine.  She just marches on, organizing, doing press releases, getting groups to sign on...and I guess this is the way things get done, but I need a little more structure.  I can see how easy it is to lose focus when you let everyone in.  But, it should be interesting.